'Toon Reviews 14: Animaniacs Vol 1 Part 1: De-Zanitized/The Monkey Song/Nighty-Night Toon

It’s time for the first set of reviews of my pick for the greatest animated series of all time via its first DVD set:

Animaniacs (Volume 1)

Basic Premise

This is the TV series the animation medium was made for, greatly utilizing everything that makes something memorable and impactful.  It may not tell a big, grand underlying story with a lot of drama, or specialize in creative fantasy worlds, or give a relatable slice of life, but Animaniacs stands out highly uniquely as an animated series.  With basic setups to its content, it uses the animation medium to execute everything impressively with distinct and appealing characters, smart writing, stylized animation from different studios, and fantastic music.  The seemingly lacking turns out to be a big substantial animated package, putting variety in variety show.  Helping in its appeal are the people behind this show with a huge respect and admiration to the Golden Age of Warner Bros Animation hot off the success of their earlier series, Tiny Toon Adventures, led by TV and movie god, Steven Spielberg thus leaving a perfect storm to head the animated series that’s as close to perfect as any will get.

With this appealing style and perfect and passionate crew comes an ingenious center for the show.  Headlining everything are the Warner Brothers themselves and the Warner Sister, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot, created in the 1930s who ran wild wherever they pleased with zany, off-the-wall mannerisms that perfectly display animation’s strengths until they were captured and sealed in the water tower at Warner Bros. studio.  Now, their zaniness continues when they escape the tower, allowing their animated greatness to shine once again.  In keeping with the show’s emphasis on animation’s great versatility, we also get a lot of greatness from cartoon characters the Warners frequently come across.  They include the mice team scheming for world domination, Pinky and the Brain, the retired cartoon star, Slappy Squirrel, who delights in passing her cartoon knowledge down to her nephew Skippy, the street-smart pigeons, the Goodfeathers, the melodramatic cat and dog duo, Rita and Runt, and the cute and frequently painful adventures of Mindy and Buttons.  Along with a handful of songs, cold opener skits, and respectful parodies, you’re guaranteed to get a great animated experience from what every episode provides. 

This is why now, in the year of the show’s 25^th anniversary, I’m really excited to start doing reviews of it, starting with the show’s first 25 episodes on its first DVD set.  In keeping with the variety show format of the series, there will be three rankings instead of one; one for cartoons, one for songs (not counting those that are part of cartoons), and one for miscellaneous pieces that aren’t full song sequences, but different enough from the typical narratives of the cartoons.  Also, segments that often bridge parts of an episode together such as “Good Idea Bad Idea,” “Mime Time,” “Randy Beaman,” “Dot’s Poetry Corner,” and “Wheel of Morality,” as well as scenes of the Warners escaping and returning to their tower, will not discussed since each one is basically the same thing every time and could make the reviews monotonous. I will say that while these segments only exist to pad out episodes, they’re still highly entertaining ways to do so.  With all that said, let’s open up the water tower, insert the first disc on the set, and run wild, for we’re now going to look into the masterpiece that’s zany to the max, Animaniacs!  Those are the facts!

Episode 1

De-zanitized



As the cartoon to introduce the headlining characters of the show, this not only does what it’s supposed to do, but it’s also a great and entertaining watch on its own.  Through flashbacks from Warner Bros studio psychiatrist, Dr. Scratchansniff, in his own therapy session, we see just how big an impact the Warners leave on the world around them the moment they escape their water tower.  Before they escape, everything seems to operate normally around the studio lot, especially Dr. Scratchansniff’s job of psychoanalyzing many famous movie stars which he’s been doing for years.  With the Warners now free to rush about the studio doing whatever they please with whoever they come across however, it seems like nothing will operate normally again, and Dr. Scratchansniff is trapped with the task of getting their behavior under control.  Through it all, the Warners quickly show that even though people view them as a major annoyance that intrudes on their business, they’re still lovable entertaining characters for how they function in life.  Their high energy and eagerness to meet everyone on the lot invests you in everything they do not just because they’re almost always hilarious, but also because they have no ill-intentions towards the people they end up annoying.  Even simple conversations with people have a ton of enjoyment to them with various unique approaches to the simplest of actions.  They include answering a question as game show contestants and expect to win something, following people as they pace the floor in different fashions, and giving witty responses and visual gags towards someone else’s requests.  They also bring out entertainment in other characters like Scratchansniff, mostly with how they continually make him more frustrated throughout the cartoon, interpreted by him pulling out more of his hair because of their behavior resulting in the bald head he has for the rest of the series.  Now, this is all great stuff from the Warners as a group, but the cartoon goes in an interesting direction when Scratchansniff tries to study them individually.  These moments are a particular strong point because the psychoanalytical methods each Warner sibling is put through has them go about it in their own distinct style of humor.  Dot is given ink blot tests and responds to them with her interest of style and cuteness resulting in smart-alecky remarks and her taking the ink blot and shaping it into something substantial.  Wakko shows off some childlike innocence when he has a hard time answering how he feels and gives off a physical gag by inflating himself when asked to expand on his eventual response.  Yakko gets the most hilarious bit when he goes on an endless roll of saying what word he’s thinking of when Scratchansniff says something…before the practice formally begins.  Basically, what we see from the Warners shows that not only are they a great team of funny cartoon characters, but they stand out in their own entertaining way too, leaving promise for greatness to come.  In addition, Dr. Scratchansniff is also a likable character here, not just for his humorous frustrations from dealing with these zany kids, but also for being sympathetic for his fruitless efforts.  The setting of the Warner Bros studio lot is immersive from its design and the celebrity appearances, and while they’re not as prominently seen as Scratchansniff, other supporting characters like the easily agitated CEO, Thaddeus Plotz, and Hello Nurse whose attractiveness has Yakko and Wakko give exaggerated infatuations give a taste of what to expect from them.  This first cartoon gives us solid introductions to the main players of the show, but for the endless entertainment all throughout, it’s amazing by itself.  9.5/10

The Monkey Song

Now that we’ve met the Warners and the main players at the Warner Bros studio they will most frequently interact with, we’re ready to get a taste of another major strength of this series, the music.  Given that this show is known to have used a full orchestra for the background music, that’s a good indication that when the show presents a song as part of an episode, the song will turn out amazing.  Sure enough, almost all the songs of this show knock it out of the park with everything that goes into its composition, not just the great music. 

In the case of this song, which is a full-adaptation of a 1961 Harry Belafonte song, it’s a perfect fit for the chaotic nature of Yakko, Wakko, and Dot and how their excitable and zany nature effects those they come across, especially Dr. Scratchansniff who does the singing.  The lyrics are given an interesting visual interpretation that matches the chaotic rhythm of the music and what they describe, such as doing a crazy dance, popping up in Scratchansniff’s bathroom making a mess of it, and even getting Hello Nurse “in a mad embrace,” feel like perfect fits for the Warners and what they tend to do.  It’s also no wonder that they’re referred to as monkeys given the crazy lengths they go to, even in actuality, they’re not any specific creature as a future song will show.  In addition to this whole song being a great interpretation of what the Warners typically do, the song also keeps up with the original’s wild fast-paced nature as we breeze past other prominent members of the cast.  This means we get a taste of other main players on the show before their official introductions all of which showing off their principal character traits.  Some of them provide the music for the song such as the Goodfeathers, featuring Squit annoying Bobby and especially Pesto as he plays the flute, and the Hip Hippos performing the steel drum part of the song unaware of the chaos going on around them.  Other character are simply off doing their own thing as the Warners do their thing like Pinky and the Brain running around with a mouse trap that later backfires on Brain, Buttons chasing Mindy who’s carried away by balloons, and Slappy working classic cartoon gags on the Mime of the “Mime Time” segments.  With all this said, even if this is a take on an established song, it’s still an amazing introduction to this show’s great talent of music packing in a clever interpretation of the Warners and what they do, the animation’s smart visualization of the lyrics, and how it fits in memorable moments from the prominent supporting characters.  You’re sure to have fun with this song, and be excited to know that this is only the start of many great musical moments . 10/10

Nighty-Night Toon

After a hilarious standard cartoon to introduce the headliners of the series and a lively, fast-paced first impression of their songs, the episode ends with an appropriate way to calm down from all the excitement with a parody of the familiar children’s book, Goodnight Moon.  Since it’s a short segment without much of a narrative, this is the first of many entries of the series that I would put in the miscellaneous category.  Like the previous segment, it works in moments from many prominent members of the cast doing their thing to let the audience know what to expect from them as the story plays out.  Like in the original book, what we see describes everything in a bedroom at night which the narrator (who sounds a lot like Winnie the Pooh) continuously points out.  The parody does give the story a bit of an edge which in turn bring some creativity to the rhyming scheme, particularly with the use of big baboon (describing Ralph the Guard), long flume, and goon to go with toon, not to mention the last line working in a way to rhyme something with “underwear”.  The edge is also seen through what each character present does and how they tie into what’s being recited through blending into the rhyme scheme, most of the time anyway.  Of course we have the Warners messing around in the room and with Dr. Scratchansniff and Hello Nurse, but other characters have ways of standing out too. There’s the Hip Hippos questioning the narrator’s mention that they’re fat, Brain getting insulted at being called a rat, Buttons getting scared by Mindy sharing a bed with mascot for the “Good Idea Bad Idea” segments, Mr. Skullhead, Slappy getting annoyed by the narration, and Pesto beating Squit after thinking he’s been insulted.  We’re also given our first instance of Rita and Runt, well mostly Runt with a lot of emphasis on him not knowing that Rita is a cat, yet another thing we’ll see a lot of throughout the series.  Even with the comedic edge , this is still just describing a night time setting with many of the show’s principal characters, so it’s not the most interesting thing.  Still it’s a nice, harmless end to a highly energetic episode with a few solid laughs.  It’s a good way to help you settle down and prepare yourself for even more animated greatness next time. 8/10

Cartoon Ranking

1. De-zanitized

Song Ranking

1. The Monkey Song

 

Miscellaneous Ranking

1. Nighty-Night Toon

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where we're treated to the incredible animated feat of Yakko singing the nations of the world, watch the Warners help a historical figure through annoyance for the first time, and witness Pinky and the Brain's first attempt at world domination when they go on a game show.
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